Access control, both on the ground and in the air, has become a high priority issue dealt with by many, with a view to improving existing security systems and methods. While basically, the use of technological means for assisting in determination of authorization to enter a protected premises or air space is known, methods of employing same for remote identification and authentication are more problematic. This is amplified many-fold where identification and authorization to access ground and/or air space should be carried out on-line and without delay, e.g., in the case of an aircraft approaching the protected airspace.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,095 discloses a tamper-resistant apparatus located on board of an aircraft for avoiding a restricted air space (RAS) whose coordinates are stored in a secure database; and a navigational processor configured to navigate the aircraft around the RAS, if a valid overriding command is not generated. The navigational processor is configured to navigate the aircraft in an overriding mode, if the valid overriding command is generated.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin vol. 38, no. 10, pp. 591-591 titled “Security protection through secondary alert passwords” discloses the use of a secondary alert password provided to authorized users to identify illegitimate access attempts of electronically protected resources.